‘Ironheart': Chinaka Hodge Tapped as Head Writer for Marvel Studios Series

Dominque Thorne will star as Riri Williams, who essentially takes over the mantle of Iron Man

Chinaka Hodge will serve as the head writer for Marvel’s upcoming “Ironheart” series for Disney+, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

Dominique Thorne will star in “Ironheart,” which focuses on Riri Williams, a young Black woman who builds her own Iron Man-like suit.

Marvel Studios declined to comment.

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In the comics, Williams is a Black teen prodigy attending MIT who builds her own suit of flying armor that she reverse-engineered from Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit design. Williams is sort of an Iron Man fangirl — appropriate, as she’s pretty much as smart as Tony is. In terms of her role as a superhero, Ironheart/Williams doesn’t have any powers beyond the tech she puts in her suit.

Ironheart is a very new character in the Marvel Comics universe, having been introduced in 2016 and created by Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mike Deodato. You can read more about the character’s comics backstory here.

Hodge, meanwhile, is a poet and an educator who has written for TV series including Apple TV+’s “Amazing Stories” and TNT’s “Snowpiercer.”

“Ironheart” is among an expansive list of Marvel Studios series for Disney+. The first two, “WandaVision” and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” have wrapped their runs, the later of which did so last Friday. Up next is “Loki” on June 11, followed by “What If…,” “Ms. Marvel” and “Hawkeye” throughout the rest of 2021. Additional upcoming series include “She-Hulk,” “Moon Knight,” “Armor Wars,” “Secret Invasion” and untitled “Black Panther” spinoff series set in Wakanda. There’s also a “Guardians of the Galaxy” holiday special set for 2022.

Variety first reported the news on Hodge.